At the Garden: Depressing days for Savard

Sunday

Sep 26, 2010 at 12:01 AM

BOSTON — One thing Marc Savard's post-concussion syndrome has in common with Patrice Bergeron's from the latter's ordeal three years ago: a complete disinterest in making his assailant feel better about what he did.

MICK COLAGEO

BOSTON — One thing Marc Savard's post-concussion syndrome has in common with Patrice Bergeron's from the latter's ordeal three years ago: a complete disinterest in making his assailant feel better about what he did.

A standard line of questioning to any victim of a malicious hockey hit is, "Has he reached out to you?"

Both Randy Jones and Matt Cooke made repeated attempts to call their victims, and neither has been successful. Bergeron fielded the question from Boston media on more than one occasion, and each time the answer was akin to "I've been told he tried but, no, I haven't called back."

Same story with Savard, who did text Evander Kane after Kane knocked Cooke out cold with a right cross after the Penguins forward challenged the Atlanta forward in a subsequent game.

On the surface, it sounds like the victim is using the silent treatment as his only weapon because, even if he wanted to exact revenge, more eyes are trained on him than the player anyone should be afraid of. But in the mind of the concussed, that's not it at all. Bergeron said resentment had nothing to do with not taking Jones' call.

"You just don't feel like it, you want to worry about yourself more than anyone else because you need it," he said. "You don't feel like calling anyone. It's not even whoever hit you, it's also anyone that you don't know. You're not taking the phone that often, I'll tell you that much."

Since returning "too soon" from the March trauma and then cooling down for a month after the May playoffs, Savard has suffered a recurrence of dizzy spells, blurred vision, nausea and trouble sleeping, all classic post-concussion symptoms.

"I still feel good. When I was training (this summer), I was doing really well," said Savard at his TD Garden locker, a place he won't be using for its intended purpose for an indeterminable amount of time. "Those issues I didn't even say to (my trainer) when I was doing stuff, I just tried to work through them. But that wasn't the right thing to do."

The symptoms left him unfit to deal with the NHL's investigation of his front-loaded contract, much less reports that the Bruins were discussing him in trade talks. But, for Savard, none of it hurts like his mind.

"Probably the depression part, obviously, that part's the toughest," he said. "I've been having some tough days doing things you normally do."

World-class athletes don't respond well to having their ability to function in normal capacities taken away.

"When you can't do what you do daily, it's tough to stay positive. That was the biggest issue for me," said Bergeron. "Depression, I guess, you can relate to all that with fatigue and stuff. I didn't get there, but it was close, kind of feeling down."

Hockey coaches are known to keep injured players away from the locker room because, especially if he's a star, it becomes a distraction. Savard failed his last "impact exam" and cannot resume workouts until he passes one, so a return is not imminent. Yet the Bruins have gone out of their way to make him a part of this weekend's team-building exercises in Vermont.

"It's good for both parties, actually," said Bruins coach Claude Julien. "It's good for him, he's going to certainly feel a lot better being around his teammates and slowly get back into it, and teammates are certainly glad to see him.

"Everybody cares about a player who is going through those kind of tough times, and there was a bunch of players, including coaching staff, and all of us reaching out to him and making sure that he knew we were thinking of him and looking forward to him getting better ... I think it's mostly he's a teammate, he's part of this team whether he's in the lineup right now or not."

At the beginning and end of every season this Bruins team has been together, there have been impactful injuries. Captain Zdeno Chara was asked if he ever wonders if the Bruins will ever field a full team.

"Knock on wood," he said.

Mick Colageo covers hockey for The Standard-Times. Contact him at mcolageo@s-t.com and visit www.southcoasttoday.com/rinkrap